


cause i built a home (for you, for me)

by palekwami (angstyfanboi)



Series: and in silence comes the storm [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canon Universe, Light Angst, M/M, One Shot, first fight at the valley of the end but make it better, good for him honestly, naruto FINALLY addresses his trauma, naruto leaves with sasuke, requited love though it's not explored yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-12 09:35:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,943
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29757636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angstyfanboi/pseuds/palekwami
Summary: This time, when Sasuke goes, Naruto follows.Konoha may be painted in memories, but the rose-colored lenses are shattered, and there’s nothing left for them on the very same place that took everything away from both.A what could’ve been.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Series: and in silence comes the storm [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2186943
Comments: 12
Kudos: 56





	cause i built a home (for you, for me)

**Author's Note:**

> For those who have read 'home is not a place (but where you are)', welcome back! I did promise to continue this idea, but I figured 'hey, what's the best way of doing that if not by making Naruto go with Sasuke?' Let's see if I find more things to write on this verse. (series: upon ghosts, a home was built- ongoing).
> 
> For those who haven't read the first installment, I suggest doing it because this work picks up at the middle of the previous one, giving it a different ending, and it will give you context. Either way, this takes place on the first fight at the valley of the end, when Sasuke leaves Naruto unconscious and runs to Orochimaru. (series: and in silence comes the storm- completed)
> 
> Remember that I accept constructive criticism but any hate comments will be deleted!
> 
> Follow me on Twitter [HERE](https://twitter.com/taxianjuwun)

“Come with me.”

At those words, Naruto who had been quietly enjoying what seems to be a goodbye, tenses.

It feels like the taut string of a bow, aimed at somewhere afar and riding the tension of being pulled to the limit, just about to snap. He doesn’t move, of course, if anything he presses himself closer to Sasuke’s chest, to the beating heart ( _alive, alive alive alivealive)_ and to the hot thrum of blood that courses through his veins, but his muscles cramp up all the same because…

Because for the first time he considers it.

He _loves_ Konoha. He does! He loves it with all its flaws, loves how people aren’t _inherently_ bad, that they’re not spiteful to everyone, that they help each other like a family that goes beyond blood ties— even if it excludes him from it, even if there’s something _fundamentally wrong_ with him to make people look the other way— they’re human, and strong in their fragility and resilient in their flaws. And if people aren’t inherently bad then neither is he…

But Naruto… he’s lonely.

Before he became a part of Team 7 the world had been just a blur. There was only his goal ahead, and occasional splotches of focused light when Iruka-sensei took him for ramen, or the Third sat by his side and smiled at his usual speech of wanting to become Hokage. And when those moments faded, like every other good thing in his life— his good dreams are forgotten in the morning, but the many nights he wakes up _burning_ and counting whips of a violent orange, and _red, red_ eyes, stay with him the entire day, every day— there had only been… loneliness. An ache within his bones that rattled them like there was an earthquake underneath his skin. But he had been alone in those moments, and when there’s no one around to see him smile then there’s no reason to do it.

So now… now he considers it. He replays the words over and over, deconstructs them and puts them back together, searches _deep_ within himself, pulls that ugly voice from the crevices of his gut and yells at it to give him an answer and…

The red eyes stare back at him. Rageful, singing songs shrill with promises of vengeance and, in that moment, he feels closer to Sasuke than ever because he can _taste_ it, like it has always been there at the back of his throat, under his tongue, and it’s not just an echo of someone else’s feelings, _something_ else’s, though they bring his own forward and they overwhelm him and he’s suddenly _clasping_ Sasuke’s shirt, harshly and desperately and overtaken by _everything_.

( _Because, before, if he allowed himself to look too much into it, how much harder would it be to look at people and still want to protect them._ )

And Sasuke, for all he was called cold, an untouchable genius with a tad of magnetic apathy that girls long to pry apart and find a soft heart that will cherish them, is there to catch him. Is there to pull him closer to his chest, gathers the broken pieces of him and holds them together by the sheer strength of his devotion, refuses to be apart even an inch. He seeks comfort as much as he gives it, no conditions, no hesitancy. Just them under the pouring rain, Konoha behind them and the rest of the world waiting.

Sasuke doesn’t ask him again, but he’s not assuming answers either. He understands this was a turning point, like for the first time Naruto is being given a _choice_ , a real one, and not just one way he must work with. Like finally someone is looking at him and telling him ‘ _you’re not alone, you’re not less than anyone else. Make your own way, don’t settle for the bare minimum you’re being given_ ’. The thought burns a little too much, and the Uchiha avenger can’t help but wrap his arms harder around the other boy, daring anyone to hurt him again now that he _knows_. _Sees_ in him the same lone despair the mirror reflects back at him every morning.

On his part, Naruto thinks. His head is swirling, as he tries to decipher which parts of this ocean of feelings are _his_ and his alone, and which ones are foreign yet echoing within. It’s an arduous task, as if he’s only now discovering the real depth of his feelings, how under the thick, trained layer of loyalty and devotion and promises, there’s a whole underlayer that is restless and angry and vast and so, _so_ deep and ignored that the numbness leaves him choking. Because there’s years and years of neglect there, memories he passed off like phases and not a constant, though every single one, when put together, could build a chronological line with barely any interruptions. And years and years of abuse, of disgust and hatred no one bothered concealing, of condescending looks and no pity because there was only something worst to be felt. ( _He can’t tell whether it’s better or worse that way._ )

He forgives Konoha. Forgives the people that are _bad_ but not inherently so. Forgives those who give fresh food to kids on the street but only left him begging for scraps. Forgives everyone— he’s forgotten for long enough, but now it’s all rushing back, and he won’t let it go, not _again_ —, and he might forgive them but it’s _not enough_. It’s not enough like being ignored instead of being beaten wasn’t enough. It’s not enough like being given rotten food instead of no food at all wasn’t enough. It’s not enough like having the Third visiting him twice a month instead of being left completely alone wasn’t enough.

So, his forgiveness _isn’t_ enough to get him to stay.

And for the first time, he finds he doesn’t _want_ it to be. He doesn’t want to fight for a village that fought _him_. He loves them but they destroyed him and made sure that even his love isn’t enough to get him to _stay_.

He’s tired of having to hold a _kunai_ with shaky fingers and carve a Naruto-shaped place in the stone hard walls of Konoha.

Thus, when he looks up, there’s no need for words. His eyes are swollen, red and still full of tears, but Sasuke has seen many moments of devotion on the blond’s face and this can rival every and each one of those times before. It’s a rush of _longing_ for the unknown, for _freedom_ , whole freedom and not one that only stretches to arm’s length, enough to keep control over Naruto while simultaneously keeping him far enough he could easily be overlooked as another stone on the pavement.

Still, Sasuke… needs, more than wants. He needs to hear him say it because… Because if he doesn’t this could be anything: from a total misunderstanding to a _genjutsu_ or a simple dream. Hearing the words will make it real, realer than anything, and if it’s real, if Naruto is willing to go to the ends of the earth with him, even as far as going to Orochimaru even though it’s clear he hates the man— and if Naruto doesn’t even hate those who hurt him, hating the _Sannin_ is enough of a reason to at least be _wary_ of him— then Sasuke needs nothing else to fight back. Because Naruto might be a weakness, _his_ weakness, but it’s telling enough that he couldn’t control himself fast enough not to ask for the boy to come with him, to leave his loyalty to the village he wants so badly to protect fade into the background and bring forth his loyalty for _him_. And that… that’s something. More than something, it’s _everything_. Because his brother, who was supposed to be loyal to him _wasn’t_. The girls who try to convince him they love him aren’t loyal ( _at least not in a way that matters. Loyalty comes with understanding someone’s boundaries, and they’ve never left him alone despite how uncomfortable he was_ ). But Naruto, his self-proclaimed rival, his acknowledged nemesis, is _here_ , with _him_. And he came to bring him back, but he stopped and _listened_ to the pain in Sasuke’s voice and Naruto never _stops_.

That alone speaks more than _anything_. Because up until now it’s always what others want, stay in the village and get strong to get revenge, be in a group with people he doesn’t like— and sure that changed, but _still_ — and not have a moment of quiet because if it’s not the ghosts whispering when the wind goes quiet, it’s the stares and gossip and heart-eyed pouts when he walks by, and when it’s not that it’s to _stay in the same fucking village and forget his goal,_ caught up in other people’s business like his own doesn’t matter as much.

But Naruto is here. Naruto with goals holding the weight of the world, goals big enough that cast a shadow over him, and if Sasuke wanted someone to at least keep their judgment out, then he’s found the best person to even _understand him_.

And it’s a weakness, he knows. It’s a weakness because this only proves how much he means to him and this is in his way to become stronger but he’s just… letting that go. And it’s bittersweet because he’s tired of having ghosts for company but it’s in his blood to live that way and it almost feels a sacrilege to allow Naruto to walk down this path with him.

Yet tradition didn’t work for Itachi. At least in this, he’ll follow his brother; after all, what’s the best way to know someone’s weakness if not by following them? Itachi has Kisame so Sasuke will have Naruto and he’ll find a way.

 _They’ll_ find a way.

The thought of not being so glaringly alone anymore seems to shift everything around him. Like suddenly the rain is falling slower, the sky is a brighter shade of gray, the points where Sasuke’s skin meets Naruto’s burn instead of simply warming up. Like the tension in between his shoulder blades has suddenly been lifted and he can finally breathe the whole way in, though he hadn’t even noticed there was such a big bolder hindering him in the first place.

Though, he still needs to ask, he needs a full answer completely spelled down for him; he doesn’t even notice his _sharingan_ is spinning, barely registers the dull pain on the junction of his neck— no hate, despair or rage present to feed it but it’s still fighting its way in— because if nothing else, he’ll commit this moment to memory, tattoo it into the sharp crevices of his memory and keep it close to his heart because this is where everything changes, and if the world goes dark this will guide his way out.

Not needing to hear the question out loud ( _because blood only goes as deep as one’s veins, but someone’s existence is overwhelming and knows no bounds; their lives are interwoven in one another and to separate them would be like breaking them in half_ ), Naruto moves his hands to hold his face in between his both hands, like he’s holding something precious, something irreplaceable, and pushes a lock of inky hair away from his blood red eyes.

This might’ve started as a goodbye…

“I’m going with you. I’m not leaving you on your own as long as I breathe.”

but it won’t end as one.

( _This is a hello to a new start._

 _They’ll build their own home this time._ )


End file.
